Switching device



1947. E. 1.. STEPHANSON I ,41

SWITCHING DEVICE Filed June 20, 1944 37 34 J0 /N 5 N TOR 7 J L E. L. STEPHANSO/V A TTORMEV Patented Jan. 14, 1947 SWITCHING DEVICE 'l-Edward 'L. Stephanson, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 'assignor to Western Electric "Company, Incorporated, New York, N. 'Y.,'acorporat1on of New York Application June 20, 1944,. Scrial.N0.I541,236

Claims.

I This invention relates to a switching device and particularly 'to 'devices for establishing different types of connections by .difierentmanipulations of the device.

An object of the invention is to simplify the construction and operative facilities of such switching devices.

'Heretofore switches have been used in which 'difierent motions of the switch manipulating member caused difierent connections to be established between switching contacts such as, for example, devices in which a rotation of a button or other similar member caused on type of connection to be established and in which the depression of said button caused other types of connections to be established.

A feature of the present invention is an arrangement in a switching device of this general type'in "which a plurality of stationary contacts are associated with a disc having radial contact springs with one of said springs normally engaging one of said contacts and in which means is provided whereby said disc may be manually rotated to cause said one spring to engage succeeding contacts or whereby said disc may be manually lowered at any angular rotary position to cause all of said springs to simultaneously en- .gage'corresponding contacts or whereby if the disc is rotated to a certain angular position, said disc is automatically lowered to cause all of said springs to engage corresponding contacts and to cause said disc to be locked in said lowered posi- 'tion.

Another feature is an arrangement whereby if the disc is manually lowered at any angular position to have its springs engage corresponding contacts, the disc is automatically held in this position and whereby it may be manually released from this position.

The invention has been illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 shows a top view of a switch in accordance with the applicants invention with a small portion cut away to show a portion of the disc more completely;

switch shown in Figs.

-' indicate bymarkings the particular completely engaging the stationary contacts; and

Figs..6,7 and 8 show the arrangement for locking'the disc, Figs. .6 and '7 being cross-sections of the locking mechanism and Fig. 8 a cross-section taken'online 8-3 of Fig. 6.

Referring now to the drawing, the switch may consistof'a'bottom insulation plate l in which are inserted in a circular formation a series of contactsi, to which electrical conductors may be connected on the other side of the insulation platel. Above this arrangement of the contacts a disc 4 is mounted in which a series of radially disposed springs have been 'formed and bent downwardly asshown in Figs. 3 and 4 in particular. Normally one of these springs, such as 6, is bent downwardly more than the other springs and engages, as shown in Figs. 2 and 4, two of thecontacts such as i and 8, it being understood, ofcourse, that the spring 6 may be so positioned radially that it will engage only one of these contacts, for example, 1, in a normal position. If so desired,'the switch may be designed to normally have the spring 6 engage the tWo contacts 5 and 8 to establish a connection between them or to normally engage only one of them to establish merely a connection between'the disc 4 and said contact. It may be desirable to have more than one spring normally engage the contacts in which case it would be a simple matter to bend such springs in the same operation as spring 6 as shown for example for spring 9. This disc 4 is mounted on'a bushing ID on a shaft ll extending through a bearing 12 inplate I and through another bearing above the bushing l0 numbered 14 which is connected to a strap l5 running across the switch and mounted on two opposite posts'20 and 2! which are also connected to the plate I. The shaft H is supplied with a rotating button 22 having -a scale portion 23 which may position in which the shaft, button and disc are located. Connected to the bushing iii are arms 26 and 21 which'may-engage the cam member 23 connected on the strap I5'when the shaft, bushin and disc have been rotated to certain corresponding positions.

A commutator spring 29 may be arranged to engage shaft H to whicha conductor is attached and 'similar'conductors may be attached to con tacts 2 to establish electrical connections between disc 4- and contacts 2.

The modification of the mechanism as shown in Figs. 6 to 8 for locking the-shaft ll anddisc 4 ma lowered position-consistsof an "extension 30 on plate I having diagonally opposite holes 30 and 3! in which are placed balls 33 and 34. These balls are held in place by an endless coiled spring 35 located in a circular depression 35 on the outside of the extension 39. The shaft H is provided with a circular depression 31 so that when the shaft is lowered the balls 33 and 34 engage this depression under the tension of spring 35 to hold the shaft in this lowered position.

The operation of the mechanism is as follows: If it is assumed that normally the contact springs on the disc t are located in position shown in Fig. 2, the spring 6 normally will engage the contacts I and 8 and spring 9 engage associated contacts and if the knob 22 is rotated in a counter-clockwise direction these springs will engage succeeding contacts on the plate I until the projection 26 on the bushing l engages the cam 28 when this cam causes the bushing l0, through the projection 26 to be lowered with the shaft H and thus cause the disc l to be lowered so that all of its springs will engage the associated stationary contacts 2 and thereby establish electrical connections between all of the contacts 2 through the springs of disc 1. Similarly, when the disc 4 is rotated further the projection 27 will engage cam 28 to cause disc 4 to be similarly lowered The projections 26 and 21 and the cam 28 may be so located and shaped that when the disc and shaft have been rotated to said certain angular positions and lowered, these projections will lock in the lowered position under the cam 28 and remain in this position until the disc is again rotated at which time the spring 40 surrounding the bearing l2 and engaging the disc 4 will cause said disc to be moved away from the contacts 2 to a position where the bushing 18 will engage the bearing M in which position the springs 6 and 9 will be the only ones engaging contacts. This spring 40 will, of course, normally maintain the shaft in the raised position so that during the rotation of the disc the springs E and 9 will engage the succeeding contacts.

It should be understood that by manually depressing the knob 22 when it has rotated the disc to any particular position, the disc may be pressed against the tension of spring 40 to cause all of the springs on this disc to engage the associated contacts at whatever position it may be located at this time. If the mechanism is not provided with the locking arrangement shown in Figs. 6 to 8,

' then when the manual pressure on knob 22 is discontinued, spring 40 will restore it and the disc 4 to normal in the vertical direction and hence cause all of the springs thereon except springs 6 and 9 to disconnect from their respective contacts on plate I. On the other hand if the mechanism shown in Figs. 6 to 8 is provided, the shaft and disc will remain in the depressed position as shown in Fig. 7 with the balls 32 and 33 engaging depression 3'! in shaft ii. If and when it is desired to release the shaft and disc to normal position in the vertical direction,

the knob 22 may be manually engaged to lift the.

shaft and disc and release them from the locked position, that is, shaft II will in this latter case force the balls 32 and 33 away from engagement with the depression 31 and rise to normal position as shown in Fig. 6. Thus the switch may be used to establish a connection between succeeding contacts and the springs 6 and 9 or between two adjacent contacts while rotating the knob 22, or all .of the contacts may be electrically connected by the depression of the knob 22 at any rotary position of the disc or the disc may be locked in the lowered position to establish a connection between all of the contacts with the disc at any position or when it has been rotated to certain positions where the extension 26 or 21 is operated upon by the cam 28.-

What is claimed is: v

1. In a switching device, a shaft, a disc on said shaft having a certain number of radial contact springs, an equal number of circumferentially lo cated stationary contacts, each located opposite a corresponding contact spring, one of said contact springs being bent so as to normally engage a corresponding one of said contacts, means for rotating said shaft to cause said one contact spring to engage succeeding contacts, a cam mechanism operated when the shaft has been rotated to a certain angular position for shifting said shaft so that each contact spring on said disc engages a corresponding contact, said shaft being also shift-able by said rotary means independent of said cam mechanism at any angular position to cause each of said contact springs to engage a separate contact.

2. In a switching device, a plurality of circumferentially disposed contacts, a rotatable and longitudinally movable shaft centrally located between said contacts, a disc on said shaft having a plurality of radial contact springs out from the outer rim thereof, one of said contact'springs being bent so as to extend to a difierent plane from that occupied by the other contact springs and to normally connect with said contacts on the rotation of said shaft, a spring surrounding said shaft to normally maintain said disc in position to prevent said other contact springs from engaging said contacts, and means for shifting said shaft longitudinally against the tension of said spring to a position where the contact springs on said disc establish a common electrical connection between all of said contacts through said disc.

3. In a switching device, a plurality of circumferentially located stationary contacts, a rotatable and longitudinally movable shaft centrally located between said contacts, a disc on said shaft having a plurality of radial contact springs cut from the outer rim thereof, one of said contact springs being bent so as to extend to a difierent plane from that occupied bythe other contact springs and to normally'connect with said contacts on the rotation of said shaft,

a spring surrounding said shaft to normally maintain said disc in position to prevent said other contact springs from engaging said contacts, and means for shifting said shaft longitudinaliy against the tension of said spring to a position where the contact springs on said disc establish a common electrical connection between all of said contacts through said disc, and means operated on said shifting. of the shaft for locking it in the shifted position.

4. In a switching device, a plurality of circumferentially located contacts, a rotatable and longitudinally movable shaft centrally located between said contacts, a disc on said shaft having a plurality of radial contact springs out from the outer rim thereof, one of said contact springs being bent so as to extend to a different plane from that occupied by the other'contact springs and to normally connect with said contacts on the rotation of said shaft, a spring surrounding said shaft to normally maintain said disc in position to prevent the other contact springs from engaging said contacts, manually operable means for shifting said shaft longitudinally against the tension of said spring to a position where the contact springs on said disc establish a common electrical connection between all of said contacts through said disc, and means automatically operative when said disc is moved to a certain rotary position for shifting said shaft longitudinally against the tension of said pring to the position where the contact springs engage all of said contacts and for causing said shaft to be locked in this position.

5. In a switching device, a plurality of circumferentially located contacts, a rotatable and longitudinally movable shaft centrally located between said contacts, a disc on said shaft having a plurality of radial contact springs cut from the outer rim thereof, one of said contact springs being bent so as to extend to a different plane from that occupied by the other contact springs and to normally connect with said contacts on the rotation of said shaft, a spring surrounding said shaft to normally maintain said disc in position to prevent the other contact springs from engaging said contacts, manually operable means for shifting said shaft longitudinally against the tension of said spring to a position where the contact springs on said disc establish a common electrical connection between all of said contacts through said disc, a locking means for said shaft operated to maintain the shaft in its shifted position against the tension of said spring, and means automatically operative when said disc is moved to a certain rotary position for shifting said shaft longitudinally against the tension of said spring to the position where the contact springs engage all of said contacts and for causing said shaft to be locked in this position.

6. In a switching device, a plurality of circumferentially arranged stationary contacts, a disc having radially disposed contact springs, centrally located above said contacts, with one contact spring engaging one of said contacts, means for manually rotating said disc above said contacts to cause said one contact spring to engage succeeding contacts and for manually lowering said disc towards the contacts so that all of said springs engage corresponding contacts, a stationary cam, means associated with said disc for engaging said cam on the rotation of said disc to a certain position for automatically shifting said disc towards the contacts so that all of the springs engage corresponding contacts in this position, said cam and means on the disc being so constructed that when so engaged the disc is locked in its lowered position, additional means associated with said disc for locking said disc in its lowered position when lowered at any rotary position.

7. In a switching device a plurality of circumierentially arranged stationary contacts, a disc having radially disposed contact springs centrally located above said contacts but with only one of said springs normally engaging one of said contacts, a knob for rotating said disc to cause said one spring to engage succeeding contacts during the rotation of said disc and camming means for lowering said disc in a certain rotary position to cause each of said springs to engage a separate one of said contacts and to lock said disc in said lowered position.

In a switching device a plurality of circumferentially arranged stationary contacts, a disc having radially disposed contact springs centrally located above said contacts but with only one of said springs normally engaging one of said contacts, a knob for rotating said disc to cause said one sprin to engage succeeding contacts or for lowering said disc to cause each of said springs to engage a separate one of said contacts, and means associated with said disc for locking it in its lowered position.

9. In a switching device a plurality of circumferentially arranged stationary contacts, a disc having radially disposed contact springs centrally located above said contacts but with only one of said springs normally engaging one of said contacts, a member for rotating said disc to cause said one spring to engage succeeding contacts during the rotation thereof, a stationary cam member and a cam member on said disc, said cam members cooperating during rotation of said disc to a certain angular rotary position to momentarily lower said disc towards the contacts so that each of said springs engages a particular one of said contacts at said certain angular position.

10. In a switching device, a shaft, a disc centrally located on said shaft, and having a certain number of radially disposed contact springs, an equal number of circumferentially located contacts centrally located below said contact springs, a limited number of said contact springs being bent downwardly so as to normally engage corresponding contacts, means for rotating said shaft to cause said bent springs to engage succeeding contacts, a stationary cam above said disc, cams on said shaft, said cam being so located as to cooperate with the shaft When the shaft has been rotated to certain angular positions to lower said disc towards the contacts so that said contact springs normally out of touch with the contacts are brought into connection with corresponding contacts.

EDWARD L. STEPHANSON. 

